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Was Dutch van der Linde Evil? We all wanted to believe in Dutch van der Linde. You know the feeling if you’ve played Red Dead Redemption 2. You see him in those early days at camp. He holds a book in one hand and has a grand speech on his lips. He’s the charismatic well-spoken leader who preaches freedom and loyalty. He’s the man who saved Arthur Morgan and John Marston from a grim fate and raised them as his sons. Dutch van der Linde is a Wild West Robin Hood who fights against a modernizing world that he claims just wants to crush him.
We all believed in the plan. Just one more big score. And then that’d it. But the Dutch we see at the end. This Dutch is a paranoid murderous tyrant who leaves his own sons for dead. But he doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. His fall isn’t a sudden snap. It’s a rot spreading from a core that was never as pure as we thought it was.
So when did Dutch really break bad? The truth is the cracks were there from the very beginning. We just didn’t want to see them.
What Happened in the Blackwater Massacre?
Red Dead Redemption 2 kicks off in the middle of a blizzard. The Van der Linde gang is fleeing a disaster. You guessed it. I’m talking about the infamous Blackwater Massacre. It was a trap for the gang. The Pinkertons showed up and a few gang members got killed. We’re told it was a botched robbery, but the game slowly reveals the dark truth. During that heist, Dutch shot a young mother, Heidi McCourt in a bad way. He shot her in the head.
This wasn’t a trolley crash. This wasn’t a head injury. This was before the Red Dead Redemption 2’s main story even starts. The capacity for ruthless cold-blooded murder was already there. From the moment we meet him, the civilized Dutch, who preaches his grand philosophy, is a man who is running from a heinous unnecessary killing.
And who was at his side? Who encouraged him to do the heist? Micah Bell. A man who as Arthur says seems to be the only one Dutch listens to. That Blackwater job was an act of desperation, not some kind of Dutch’s philosophy.
Dutch van der Linde’s Personality
Dutch’s entire gang was built on a clever foundation. He didn’t just recruit gunslingers. He recruited the impressionable. He saved orphans and outcasts. He saved people who were downtrodden and disgruntled and gave them a savior.
It’s easy to command loyalty when you’re the only family your followers have ever known. But even in the early chapters, you see the mask slip. Yes, Dutch van der Linde’s personality flaws start to show up from the very beginning.
He was very arrogant. In the very first train robbery, both Arthur and Hosea urge caution. They actually protest. How does Dutch react? He doesn’t debate. He questions their loyalty. He accuses them of doubting him. This becomes his go-to move throughout the entire story. Any challenge to his plan is a personal betrayal.
Dutch van der Linde was a hypocrite. For a man who claims to be robbing from the rich to help the poor, he sure looks like a rich captain of industry. He has the nicest tent. And he greenlights Leopold Strauss’s loan sharking business. This is a predatory scheme that targets the exact desperate people Dutch claims to champion.
His philosophy doesn’t mean much if you think about it. Was it a reason or an excuse? The captured O’Driscoll, Kieran Duffy points out the uncomfortable truth. Philosophy aside, the Van der Linde gang robs and kills just like all the other outlaws.
Dutch van der Linde’s Head Injury Theory
A lot of people point to the trolley crash in Saint Denis. It’s a popular theory. Dutch hits his head and from that moment on he’s more erratic and more paranoid. He even complains about it. But the truth is, the crash didn’t make a new Dutch. It just made the decline of the real one a lot faster.
Hosea Matthews’ Death and How It Affected Dutch
Hosea was Dutch’s true counterpart. His best friend for decades. He was the co-leader and the only person who could and would stand up to Dutch. He was Dutch’s last source of impulse control.
When Hosea is killed by Agent Milton during the Saint Denis bank heist, that check is gone forever.
Dutch’s Descent into Madness
After Hosea’s death, the only voice left whispering in Dutch’s ear is Micah Bell. The sycophant, the devil on his shoulder, the rat. From this point on, Dutch’s actions are no longer about a plan or Tahiti. They are about his ego and paranoia. Here are some obvious examples:
- When he drowns Angelo Bronte, it’s not for the gang. It’s for revenge.
- When he strangles the old woman on Guarma, it’s pure paranoia. He claims she was going to betray them, but it’s clear he’s just lost his grip.
- When he shoots Leviticus Cornwall, he admits he’s just there to create noise.
He stops trying to win. He just wants to bring everyone down with him. He becomes obsessed with a traitor in the gang while being manipulated by the real one. He abandons the dying Arthur and refuses to save John. He’s not a leader anymore. He’s become a tyrant at this point.
Iconic Dutch’s I Can’t Fight My Own Nature Quote
Now what do you think? Was it the pressure? The changing world? A head injury? Or Was Dutch van der Linde Evil? All this time? The most honest answer is a bit of both. Dutch was a charismatic man with a grand anarchistic vision. He probably even believed it himself at some point. But his ego couldn’t handle failure. His worldview practically imploded when faced with a society that was outgrowing him.
The stress, the failures, the death of Hosea didn’t change Dutch. They revealed who he truly was. They peeled back the layers of charm and philosophy to expose the darkest most selfish aspects of his character.
In the end, his philosophy was just a romantic excuse for a life of violence. As Dutch himself finally admits in Red Dead Redemption, “I can’t fight my own nature.” He wasn’t fighting for freedom. He was just fighting. He didn’t care who he destroyed in the way.
You might also be interested in:
- Van der Linde’s Gang Members Who Survived
- Red Dead Redemption 2’s Rare Weapons
- Red Dead Redemption 2’s All Trapper Locations
- Red Dead Redemption 2’s Gold Bar Locations
Red Dead Redemption 2’s Steam Page
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